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Dialects
Dialects are a recurring feature of recent ''Dragon Quest'' games. Overview The use of regional dialects serves to give a sense of real-world cultural flavour to the series' largely fantasy setting. This is accomplished by various methods of language construction, including: *'Eye dialect', which involves the text being written as it would be heard from the speaker, including the omission of letters and phonemic spelling. *'Direct translation' of a foreign phrase into its English counterpart. *'Transliteration' of words normally written in other systems than Latin. Some dialectal variance is also used for humour, though when it occurs, it is usually subtle. Appearances NES-era Dragon Warrior Early games attempted to convey their fantasy narrative through the sporadic application of Early Modern English as was common in Shakespearean plays. Thus, the player would read such text as, "Thou art most welcome in Brecconary" or "I loveth thee", among others. Dragon Quest Remakes attempt to immerse the player in the narrative by applying EME more generously in the dialogue, but it isn't used in battle as much. Dragon Quest II Dragon Quest III The official remakes apply dialects by region, corresponding with their real-world analogues: *Romaria has a strong Italian influence. *Khoryv is Finnish. *Norvik should be Norwegian, but it is not apparent in the mobile version. *The territory of Isis has roots in pharaonic Egypt, and has a mediaeval Arabic theme. *Portoga is Portuguese. *Baharata has a heavy East Indian influence. *Lanson is Australian. *Theddon uses some Early Modern English *Edina uses an overly-formal English. *Mur is Russian. *Persistence is supposed to be Native American. *Lozamii should be South Pacific. ''Dragon Quest IV The NES version eschewed Early Modern English for more contemporary grammar. However, the ''Chapters of the Chosen remake became the first to use regional dialects. For instance, the Burland territories had a heavy Scots influence, while Zamoksva drew its dialect and culture from Russia; Laissez Fayre and Aubout du Monde have French influences as well. ''Dragon Quest V The only regional dialect used is in the village of Hay, where residents assume a silent initial H. However, individual characters are shown as having dialects. Of note: *Sancho is presented as Spanish. *Rodrigo Briscoletti uses an Italian accent. *Bjørn the Behemoose is Scandinavian. *Ladja has a Slavic speech pattern. *Nimzo also has Slavic tendencies, but his speech is warped in some way as to warrant the use of a faux Cyrillic cipher. Dragon Quest VII Of the twenty regions visited throughout the game, several have pronounced dialects and cultures: *Ballymolloy: Celtic/Gaelic/Irish *Emberdale: Yorkshire region, England *Regenstein: German *L'Arca: Strong Italian *Greenthumb Gardens/Wilted Heart: Deep South (United States) *Roamer: Romani (also known as Gypsy) *La Bravoure: Strong French *Al-Balad: Arabic/Mideast *Gröndal: Strong Swedish *El Ciclo: Classical Spanish *Aeolus Vale: Early Modern English spoken by the Cirrus *Vogograd: Russian Dragon Quest VIII'' As the first series title with voice acting, most of the voiced dialogue is in standard British English, otherwise known as Received Pronunciation. Exceptions include: *Yangus has an East End London accent. *Emma has an Irish accent *Morrie has a heavy Italian accent. *Cash and Carrie: San Fernando Valley, California (United States) *Purgatory Island staff have an Australian accent *Rydon has a Welsh accent. *Kalderasha and Valentina have a Slavic tilt, but are based on the Romani. Trivia *Since Yangus, nearly all thieves and thugs in the series are received as Cockney. Reception While many fans welcomed dialects as a nice addition to the series, others however disagreed with the use of dialects. Category:Recurring elements